Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rainer Stark, born 1964, is head of the Chair of Industrial Information Technology at Technische Universität Berlin.

After completing his Abitur in Wattenscheid as well as his military service, Rainer Stark studied mechanical engineering at Ruhr University Bochum and Texas A&M University in the USA. He graduated as a Diplom-Ingenieur in 1989, completing his Diplom thesis “Development in Fiber Optic Pulse Laser Generation of Surface Wave for Non Destructive Evaluation” during a research stay in the USA.

Following graduation, Rainer Stark was a research associate at the Chair of Design Technology/CAD at the Faculty of Technology, Saarland University from 1989 to 1994. There he played a key role in establishing the Institute for Innovative Production together with six other academic chairs in the Technologiezentrum Saarbrücken. His basic research focused on tolerances, features, and product data. His dissertation, titled “Entwicklung eines mathematischen Toleranzmodells zur Integration in (3D-) CAD-Systeme” significantly contributed to advancements made in these areas.

After earning his degree as Dr.Ing., Rainer Stark took a position at Ford AG, working as a systems engineer for car body development from 1994 to 1997. Following this, he focused on the methodological area of virtual product creation and worked as a technical specialist for CAD, product data modeling and PIM. In 2002, Dr. Stark was appointed technical director of virtual product development and methods for Ford Motor Company Europe, where he worked until January 2008.

In this position, he was responsible for defining, developing, and introducing new PLM solutions in the virtual product development (C3P Next Generation) within Ford Motor Company. He also led digital process and methodology projects in the European region for the Ford, Volvo and Jaguar/LandRover brands as well as for partner collaborations with Mazda and development partners and system suppliers.

During his 14-year career in the automobile industry, Dr. Stark gave numerous guest lectures and presentations at Ruhr University Bochum, Saarland University, as well as the University of Applied Sciences in Aachen. His industry success was featured in several publications and presentations at industry working groups, conferences, and public workshops.

In February 2008, Dr. Rainer Stark was appointed professor at Technische Universität Berlin, taking over from Prof. Dr.-Ing. F.-L. Krause. His areas of focus include intuitive and context-based information modeling, intuitively operable and functionally experienceable virtual prototypes, function-oriented virtual product creation as well as development processes and methodologies for product design.